Information Seeking Behaviour A Survey of Recently Arrived

Methodology The survey questions were created with the assistance of settlement workers and an attempt was made to ensure they were jargon free and were in clear language. See next slide for a list of our partners. The focus was on new immigrants in the Metrotown area. Surveys were in English and Simplified Chinese. There were no resources for further translations. Surveys were distributed through local settlement agencies and Burnaby Neighbourhood House and were most successful in the LINC classes where there were instructors to assist the respondents. Surveys were available for a little over a month. 439 surveys were returned. Data is collated into an Excel spreadsheet. Further analysis of the data is needed for deeper analysis of the results. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Partner Organizations ORGANIZATIONS BNH ISSof. BC Linc (Ed) Linc (Gil) Mosaic Success 9% 3% Our Partner Organizations Burnaby Neighbourhood House ISSof. BC BSD LINC (209 -7355 Canada Way) BSD LINC (6907 Gilley Avenue) MOSAIC SUCCESS 12% 31% 18% 27% (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Survey Language and Gender Breakdown Language 350 Gender 328 350 300 250 200 150 111 298 134 150 100 50 50 0 0 7 Survey - Language Returns English (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney Simplified Chinese Gender Female Male Blanks

Participants – Country of Origin 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Country of Origin Large % survey returns for China, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, and Iran Small % survey returns for Philippines, Hong Kong SAR, and India 165 86 51 42 38 11 9 13 11 Country of Origin - Survey Participants China Taiwan Rep of Korea Philippines Iran Hong Kong Afghanistan Indian Other (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Level of education for participants Level of Education Blank No School Elementary Middle School High School Post Secondary* 2% Less than 1% had no schooling 18% had only finished high school 71% had some postsecondary: diploma, college or university 57% specified University 9 were left blank 1% 3% 5% 18% 71% (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Length of Time in Canada Recent Immigrants 228 Established Immigrants 127 83 Time in Canada Less than 1 year (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney 1 - 5 years More than 5 years 71% 29% Analysis of Information Attitude showed a higher % of recent arrivals experiencing problems with: Finding Information Experiencing Frustration Understanding Information Feeling that the information is useful to them

Participant Age and English Language Efficiency Age 100 105 Language 141 102 104 56 44 30 28 28 16 4 13 Age of Participant 18 -25 26 -35 36 -45 46 -55 56 -65 66 -75 76 -over Age: Majority of participants came from the 26 -55 age range (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney English Language Proficiency Excellent Very Good Poor Very Poor Blank Average English: People generally self-describe as being in the Good, Average, and Poor range with the highest being Average.

Information Attitude 322 Information Attitude Participants generally aren’t strongly agreeing or strongly disagreeing. Frustration – 188 agree, 21 strongly agree The usefulness of the information being provided 320 281 188 192 103 58 37 7 Find the info 21 21 Frustration Strongly Agree (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney Agree 33 45 7 Understand info Disagree 50 5 Info is useful Strongly Disagree Low ratings for Rep of Korea participants, for participants 56 -over, for Chinese language survey returns, and for those with low English language proficiency

Information Sources 300 250 200 The majority of peoples appear to be using a wide spectrum of sources 150 Majorities for “agree” across all the options listed Family had the largest “strongly agree” result Mainstream media had the largest “strongly disagree” result 100 50 (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney ia M m M ea tr ns ai Et hn ic M al ci So Disagree ed ia ed ily m ie Fr Agree Strongly Disagree M Se tt Strongly Agree Fa s nd y nc le m en t. A ge Li br ar y 0

Information Amount of Information in Burnaby Information Amount Positive results Overall 138 114 94 Average, Poor and Very Poor results Republic of Korea participants – a higher than average percentage Participants 56 -over struggling 17 of the 20 participants who choose “poor” and “very poor” are recent immigrants 57 12 8 How do you feel about the amount of info Excellent (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney Very Good Average Poor Very Poor Highest % returns were in the “Very Good” and “Good” categories

Information Priorities INFORMATION PRIORITIES 1 Housing Health Driver's Lic Employment Credentials Financial Sys Religion Job Skills Schools Tech skills Initial Seeking Behaviour (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney 74 Initial Seeking Behaviour 21 15 27 58 86 76 112 135 162 269 Eng Lang Class INFORMATION PRIORITIES 2

Focus Group Questions and Responses from the Immigrant Advisory Group of the Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table: 1. Can you recommend effective ways of connecting new groups of immigrants to the information they need? In your experience, are most new immigrants digitally literate and have access to computers and the Internet? Online has the advantage of allowing you control over the information you access. It can allow greater privacy as to what types of information are being sought too – or not, depending on the source and how use is tracked at a particular site. Some of the group felt that immigrants were more likely to use online sources once they were more settled and knew better what information they were seeking. It was also noted that it is easier and cheaper to make information available in multiple languages electronically than in print. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney & Deb Thomas

Focus Group Questions and Responses (cont. ) 1. Can you recommend effective ways of connecting new groups of immigrants to the information they need? When is a print copy of information most effective and when is it most effective to direct people to online information? Print can be helpful early on in the immigrant experience. Something you can hold on to and refer back to easily. Print may also give you more information than you need. If putting information in print – ensure it is targeted, brief and in clear language. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney & Deb Thomas

Focus Group Questions and Responses (cont. ) 2. We had a significant number of participants who said that they experienced frustration when trying to find information. Do you have thoughts on why that might be? The group felt that more cross-referencing of the data needed to be done in order to get at the root of who was most frustrated and why. For example: Are these largely new immigrants ? What ages are they? (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney & Deb Thomas

Focus Group Questions and Responses (cont. ) 3. What could be done to improve awareness of and access to important settlement information for new immigrants? Specifically for those who: Have average to poor English language skills Are over 56 years of age For both, connecting through those in the communities who can communicate information in other languages and culturally appropriate ways was considered the best way to improve awareness. For the library, tours for immigrant seniors could improve their awareness. One person noted that his Chinese grandparents thought of the library as a place to read and borrow materials, not as a source for information. He also noted the lack of diversity and other language facility among the librarians staffing the desks; this may contribute to immigrant seniors not approaching the public desks. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney & Deb Thomas

Focus Group Questions and Responses (cont. ) 3. What could be done to improve awareness of and access to important settlement information for new immigrants? (cont. ) One man noted that he had used the library heavily when he was a new immigrant and had not used it much, if at all, since he had settled more into Canadian life. He did not clearly indicate whether this was because he was too busy with work and family and wasn’t reading as much or whethere was not enough of interest to him. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Focus Group Questions and Responses (cont. ) 4. A few groups were less represented than others in our returned surveys from settlement agencies - in particular, the Filipino community. Do you know why this might be? 5. Respondents who belong to the Korean community in particular indicated dissatisfaction with the usefulness of the information they received. Do you have thoughts on why this might be? The group noted that both communities have strong ties and senses of community within their churches - and count on them for the settlement and integration information they need. It was an omission on the part of the survey creators that religious organizations were not included under the list of preferred sources of information. This could be true for other faiths as well. (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney

Conclusion In general the feedback received was very positive Enthusiastic response on the part of the agencies in Burnaby as well as the unexpectedly large number of survey participants Concerns in certain areas Frustration Understanding the information received Lack of participants from the Philippines Participants from the Republic of Korea do not generally feel the level of service is good enough Older participants struggling Participants with “Average” to “Very Poor” English Language skills need help Further analysis on the raw data still required More research desirable (c) 2015 David Mc. Atackney